Feathers on the Ground

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Autumn is moving swiftly this year. The colors are well on their way for the fifth of October. This morning I woke up to the house at 59 degrees, I think tonight we might have our first fire in the wood burning furnace tonight.

Nature has a funny way of predicting the future. The chickens molted early this year. Tom, our large Black Spanish Turkey lost almost all his tail feathers by the end of July. I noticed that many of the chickens followed suit.

This time of year you may notice that many of your chickens are looking a bit straggly in the feather department. This is a perfectly natural and healthy process that most birds experience in the fall.

What is the molt?

Easter Egger in molt. The down is showing from the feathers below where the shed feathers are missing.

Your chickens loose their old and perhaps damaged feathers so that new plumage can grow in creating a dense and insulated coat for winter.

How do I know if my chickens are molting?

Usually chickens molt for the first time their second autumn. Some chickens molt heavily, becoming almost bald, while others might loose only a few feathers. Other things can cause a molt; stress, changes in diet, a long brood time, health problems. But if your chickens seems healthy, (eating, drinking well and no visible health problems) and it’s the fall time of year, then it’s most likely the seasonal molt.

You’ll also find feathers scattered around the coop and run area.

Enthusiastic roosters can cause hens to loose feathers during mating. This usually occurs on the back and at the sides behind the wing. They will also loose feathers on the back of the head where he holds on with his beak. If your hens are displaying this pattern of feather loss check them for cuts under the wing and consider separating them from the roo until their feathers grow back. This also might be a sign of too many roosters per hen count in your flock.

My nest boxes are empty?

Buff Orphington wing showing signs of seasonal molt.

Unfortunately for us humans, chickens lay eggs less frequently during the molt and sometimes stop laying altogether. Just like heirloom tomatoes or spring lettuce, eggs are a seasonal commodity.

The protein that they use to lay eggs is now being used to grow feathers back. A hen knows what her body needs in each season of life.

Molting at the base of the tail

How do chickens know it’s time to molt?
Nature is smart. The molt occurs at just the right time in the season to prepare your chickens for winter. The old feathers are shed, and then have time to grow back just in time for the really cold weather to hit.

Birds are instinctively sensitive to the number of daylight hours. It’s what prompts migratory birds to head south, it effects egg laying and the beginning of molting season.

Welsummer looking scraggly particularily around her chest and on the back of her head.

What can I do to help my chickens recover from molt?

It takes extra protein to grow back feather. That’s one of the main reasons egg production lowers during this time. Make sure you feed your chickens a balanced feed. If some of your birds are having a particular hard molt, you can gradually up the protein level. Feed a 20% feed, or a grower feed.

Fresh greens and scrambled eggs can also be added to their diet. Don’t feed raw eggs as this can encourage the chickens to eat their own eggs.

Try not to handle your chickens at this time. If you look closely they will be getting their pin feathers in. Pin feathers are a baby feather. The pin feather grows out the feather shaft and looks like a small spear. (They remind me of the plastic tips of shoelaces) these feathers are particularly sensitive for a chicken. As the feather develops it will send a shoot out the end of the pin feather, lengthening until the feather is full grown.

Remove over zealous roosters from your hens. Over mating can damage and injure a hen growing her feathers back.

Provide clean dust bathing areas. Molt is a great time for chickens to really exfoliate their skin and old, dead feather shafts and material. It also keeps new feather free of mites and other external parasites.

4 Comments

Thank you for sending the articles about chickens – how to raise them. how to fix problems and all kinds of interesting things about the chickens. I am raising 24 free range chickens and can’t get enough of them. I want to learn all about them so I can properly take care of them. I also have 24 bee hives (couple million bees!) which I am raising together with my chickens in my back yard (half acre across from the ocean) , in Malibu, CA.
I brought home last night a full grown new rooster and put it in the coop with my 3 hens, 3 bantam hens and 2 bantam roosters, and the new big rooster was fighting with the 2 little roosters, then this morning I let them out in the yard, as usual and my 2 small bantam roosters went in the neighbor’s yard and do not want to come back home. For sure they are afraid of the new bully rooster so I guess I will have to put the new big rooster in the other coop with the 3 month old chickens, which seem to follow the new big rooster everywhere in the yard. I welcome any comments. Blessings, – 310-924-2168 cell – email: leajohnson@yahoo.com

Thank you for sending the articles about chickens – how to raise them. how to fix problems and all kinds of interesting things about the chickens. I am raising 24 free range chickens and can’t get enough of them. I want to learn all about them so I can properly take care of them. I also have 24 bee hives (couple million bees!) which I am raising together with my chickens in my back yard (half acre across from the ocean) , in Malibu, CA.
I brought home last night a full grown new rooster and put it in the coop with my 3 hens, 3 bantam hens and 2 bantam roosters, and the new big rooster was fighting with the 2 little roosters, then this morning I let them out in the yard, as usual and my 2 small bantam roosters went in the neighbor’s yard and do not want to come back home. For sure they are afraid of the new bully rooster so I guess I will have to put the new big rooster in the other coop with the 3 month old chickens, which seem to follow the new big rooster everywhere in the yard. I welcome any comments. Blessings, – 310-924-2168 cell – email: leajohnson@yahoo.com

My yard looks like feather pillows exploded all over! But the girls seem happy enough and with 25 hens and just one rooster, they are not bothered too much by him. Unfortunately, egg production has slowed down to 3 – 6 eggs per day, and those are mostly from my spring chickens.